Month: February 2015

A Little New and a Little Old: Novels

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I am almost through with my latest novel. It has been so much fun to write and I know you are going to love it. Destiny’s Dilemma is a historical novel, which means I am using some real circumstances and fake people. It takes place in 1912 Fort Worth, Texas when the city was on the cusp of becoming a really good city or a hell hole. Young Colored woman comes home after traveling round the world to get in touch with her roots and what she finds more than she bargained for.  In a few weeks, I will put up a sample chapter.

As part of the celebration, I am giving away free copies of Connections on Amazon Kindle today.

Connections

Connections is the story of a private investigator who with her best friend found missing relatives, spied on cheating spouses and caught a few bail jumpers. This private investigator never imagined the bad guys would chase her.

Running for her life, Sandy Herrick discovered that God was the only one with her who wasn’t talking smack, trying to kill her or get into her pants. As she and her friends try to figure out who framed them, they all discover that there was more to each other than they thought they knew.

As evil forces closed in on them, they have to determine who they trust and what they believe about each other. Would this be enough to save them?

Check it out:

Connections

Thank you for your support

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I want to say Thank you for supporting the Queens project to Kerry McCormick. You will help me tell the stories of women like Sacagawea who was an interpreter and guide during the exploration of Lewis and Clark. She was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who the NAWSA used as a symbol of women’s worth and independence. She was pregnant with her first child when she began to work with Lewis and Clark.

pic 7

Good Soil

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This morning when I was waiting in the long Starbucks drive thru line, I had a moment of clarity, or a revelation or an “ahha” moment. Whatever you want to call it.

All of the struggles we are currently going through right now is God cultivating our heart. He is taking hard dry ground and enabling it to grow something.

Just like I am waiting on spring so that I can start gardening and lawn care, God is putting all of these things in my path to tear up the ground of my heart. To make me vulnerable to His Word.  He is preparing it for the seeds He plans to drop.

This came to me as I thought of the book I am reading and how the words almost overwhelm me at times. God has used all of the issues of the past months to turn up my heart so that when I read what He has to say to me, it will take hold.  He wants to plant it in good soil so that it bears fruit.

Stop resisting your troubles. Don’t grow bitter. You are not alone.

Allow God to turn up your heart like hard ground after a cold dry winter.  Look for the seeds He is planting along with the care of the soil. He is all you need.

Thank you for your support

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I want to say Thank You for supporting the Queens project to Regina Anderson.  She will help me tell stories of women like Sojourner Truth who was born Isabella (“Bell”) Baumfree. She changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843.

She said “I did not run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right.”

 

Sojourner

Storms

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Some days you are running along with life. It is not going the way you want it, but you have learned to make applesauce out of bad apples and lemonade out of not enough lemons.

You have learned to walk with the Lord and pray.

Lord, should I go this way?

Lord, should I do this?

You are walking and working in His will. You are helping the poor, reaching the lost and representing Jesus well.

All of a sudden, the winds pick up and start to blow harshly. It begins pouring rain before you can find shelter. Your car is wrecked, your job is lost, your loved one is ill.

If you like me, you like, I need to check my connection cause He didn’t say anything about this in our morning quiet time. You feel blindsided by God. He didn’t mention this catastrophe when you were chatting.

Laura Story reminds us that sometimes our blessings are in the storms. If you have been praying for something and trouble has taken up residence in your life, look for the blessing.  This week in bible study, Moses is surrounded by people who complain and grumble about everything. Can you imagine spending your latter years with a bunch of complainers? They were on their way to the promise land and did not like how God was driving.  Eventually all of the complainers died in the dessert and never got to go into the promise land.

Just because you don’t see a way out of your problem, doesn’t mean God hasn’t got it all figured out.  Look for the blessings in your storm it will make the journey to the promise land so much better.  One of the greatest gifts God gives us is a choice.

Changing

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I left the house in a rush this morning, and there is not a lot of light in my room. I was at my fourth stop of running errands. I was walking across a parking lot to a public building when something didn’t feel right. I looked down and saw that I had on 2 left flip flops. (my toes were cute and freshly painted) But I had on a brown flip flop for the left foot and a navy flip flop for the left. I knew I could not walk into the building like that.

Fortunately for me, I keep a pair of sneakers in my car. It was back to the car for a quick change. This cracked me up. I can’t believe I had not felt anything before that. You know sometimes that was my prayer life.

This week things have changed.

I watched the video I am sharing with you. Francis Chan blows my mind. He makes me think about things I have never thought about before. God gives us all these great examples of how to love Him and what faith looks like. Francis Chan says things that draw me closer to God.

One of my walk aways from this video is Revelation 4.  He challenged me to think about who I am praying to. When I pray now this image is before me on the throne.  He is no longer a better me in human form, but He is the image described in Revelation.  Let me tell you, that changes your approach completely as you imagine Him in the appearance of jasper and flashing lightning and pearls of thunder sitting above you on a throne.

Since I have changed my praying habits, things have changed in my life. My prayers have been very effective this week, as have been my study time. I love the idea of asking God to create new experiences in my life. If you ask, He really does it. (remember, I walked around in two left flip flops) He has a great sense of humor.

He can defend Himself and me

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This morning in my bible study, the story of Aaron and Miriam talking against Moses was the focus. Moses did not defend himself, God took care of the situation.  I laughed to myself because I seldom give God the opportunity to defend me because I am always ready for a fight. I miss out on the blessing of hearing what God really thinks of me.

God says of Moses, “he is faithful in my house,

with him I speak face to face,

clearly and not in riddles,

he sees the form of the Lord” (Numbers 12: 7-8)

It is statements like that that make me leery of talking about God’s chosen ones. We spend too much time criticizing other Christians when we need to be building one another up. Another thing I love about this story is that God defends Himself. He doesn’t need any human being to defend Him.

God shut Aaron and Miriam down so fast they didn’t know what hit them. They left us an amazing example of repentance and Moses showed us what grace looked like.

I love people who have been somewhere with God. They show me that there are new heights to climb. The song “Glory to God” has been in my head all week. I can’t help but hold my arms up high when I listen to Tye Tribbett’s version. I pray that God’s glory will cause you to seek new adventures with Him and love Him forever.

Photo Campaign on Indiegogo

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I have this fun photo shoot idea I have been toying with that I plan to shoot in 2015. It is titled Queens of Freedom and Human Rights. It will take 12 women who have championed freedom in classic poses from old photos and dress them like modern day queens. I think it will be a great way to honor Black History Month and Women’s History Month. I am currently running an Indiegogo campaign to fund it. I will post updates, so check back.

Indiegogo Campaign

Barbara Jordan CJ Walker Shirley Sojourner